Member Avatar for maverick231

Hi,
I was given a computer to fix and have been searching various forums on the solution, well the problem is that aparently the user clicked on a popup for a free trial on anti-virus software, after the download it scanned his HD and found a virus and told him told him to delete certain files, He thinking that he actually had a virus deleted the files and rebooted his PC. It loads up windows and goes to the logon screen but it won't let you logon. It goes up to loading your settings then starts all over again. I have tried bootin up in safe mode and tried to go through an admin account but nothing works the same problem keeps occuring. Any solutions?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

Dani AI

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Brief, prioritized recovery plan (data first, then repair). : before attempting anything that writes to the disk, copy the user profile and important files off the drive (use a Linux/Windows PE live CD or connect the drive to another PC). rightly asked to identify the OS first — that dictates which recovery tools to use — and 's repair-install idea is a reasonable escalation once non‑destructive steps are exhausted.

Try these low-impact steps first:

  • Boot with the advanced boot options (F8) and choose "Last Known Good Configuration".
  • If you can reach a command prompt, run sfc /scannow to restore missing protected system files.
  • If you cannot log on at all, boot from the Windows installation CD to the recovery environment and run:
    chkdsk c: /r

    to fix filesystem errors that can cause logon loops.

If those fail, perform an in-place repair (keeps programs and data but replaces core OS files). Boot from the install CD, start Setup, and choose the Repair option for the detected Windows installation. Back up user data first — the repair usually preserves files but mistakes happen.

Advanced options and cautions:

  • From Recovery Console you can restore registry hives from the install/repair folder (advanced; make an image first). The hive files involved are system, software, sam, security, and default.
  • Do an offline malware scan with a reputable rescue disk before reconnecting the machine to the network.
  • If uncomfortable with the steps above, create a sector image of the drive (Clonezilla, dd) and hand it to a repair service; imaging preserves the chance for later data recovery.

These steps prioritize preserving user data, isolating disk/registry corruption, and only then rebuilding Windows.

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Member Avatar for brujo

What OS? I had the same issue with a laptop running Win2k. I don't remember right off the top of my head how we fixed it but you might need to reload the OS (although I didn't end up doing this with the user.)

Member Avatar for caperjack

boot to the xp cd and do a repair maybe

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